The oldest four wheel drive vehicle club in Australia is the Land Rover Club based in Victoria, which of course needed to be joined. To far (even by Aussie standards) for us to attend monthly meetings so when they announced a club anniversary celebration we decided to make the effort and go. Planning to make an adventure of it.
What a shock Melbourne was after the peace and quiet of living here. There were more than two cars on the road, indeed there were often four lanes of traffic albeit not moving very fast. AND soooooo many people. We were very lucky to have a tram stop just across the road from where we stayed and so didn't have the challenge of avoiding toll roads, the many traffic lights and finding parking spaces. We could move around fairly stress free, which I think was a great relief to all of us... I am including Dora in that statement!
Two nights in Melbourne was enough for us new country folk, lovely place which I'd recommend to anyone to visit BUT. We packed up Dora and set off to Ballarat and the goldfields for a couple of nights.
We heard about Sovereign Hill which is a living museum, replicas of some of the buildings erected in the 1850s during the goldrush. The whole town is an incredible story of hardship and fortunes... crafts men and women work there and patiently show their skills to up to 4000 visitors a day. All the machinery used is powered by steam produced from two huge boilers which are themselves over 100 years old. It really is a step back in time and a very easy place to spend two whole days wondering around. Two chaps run the blacksmiths and the farrier looks after the 60 horses used here to take the visitors around on carts and wagons.
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| The wheelwright using original machinery to shape the hub. |
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| Clever piece of kit making perfectly spaced holes in the hubs |
All of this machinery saved the tradesmen so much time as well as effort.
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| Those were the days, how lucky we are to have running water |
There were of course extremes with the living quarters
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| A fairly successful fossikers house |
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| The post masters house |
The copper in the laundry. All in a separate house out the back.
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| The Chinese quarters were down the hill away from the hoi polloi these poor people mostly had tents to sleep in. I can not imagine how tough it must have been during the winters there. |
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| A metal turner, who also runs the tin smiths making plates, lamps anything needed by the good towns folk but now of course anything needed by the good tourists.... |
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| The candle makers |
Due to the population explosion Ballarat was suddenly under policed so they brought in convicts from the brutality of Tasmania to act as law enforcers!
Local Schools bring their students along and for a day they are dressed in the traditional fashion of the 1850's and spend a whole day playing, having fun and learning what times were like back then.
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| Getting to play with traditional toys, they certainly looked like they were having a whale of a time.... and not a mobile in sight! |
These are the mine-shafts and in the fore ground of the first photo the white pipes are how the steam is transported around the whole site.
It was an amazing place to visit and the trades people there were fascinating to talk to... I think you can tell I was enthused.....
Onwards then next stop Hamilton which is in the Grampians to visit/meet some old/new friends and then a night in Port Fairy well actually Kilarney to stay with more friends. Which was a perfect way to finish our gallivanting around.
This all happened last month and I can not believe its taken this long to write about......
Ooroo
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